体坛英语新闻：Jankovic survives scare to struggle past Halep

NEW YORK, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Number four seed Jelena Jankovic survived scare in her first round match against number 96-ranked Romanian Simon Halep, struggling to a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 victory in the US Open on Tuesday.
Jankovic, who reached the final of the Open in 2008, sprained her ankle in July, an injury that kept her schedule and training to a minimum this summer. Still, nobody predicted the difficulty she would have against her first-round opponent, who appeared in just her second career Grand Slam.

The match initially appeared to be a mild test for Jankovic, perhaps the kind of warm-up she would need to play herself into shape after a shaky summer. Since returning from injury, she has won just one match in her three tournaments leading up to the Open.

The Serb went up 3-0, but serving at 3-1, she showed her first signs of vulnerability. She double faulted twice in the fifth game, and committed two backhand errors to give Halep an easy break.

Jelena Jankovic of Serbia hits a return to Simona Halep of Romania during the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, August 31, 2010. Jankovic won with 6-4, 4-6, 7-5

There were six breaks of serve in the first nine games. At 5-4, Jankovic got the seventh and last break to take the set 6-4, showing off her well-regarded retrieving skills and forcing Halep into costly errors.

Halep showed no signs of being intimidated, racing out to a 4-0 lead in the second. While Jankovic fought back, with Halep serving at 5-4, 30-30 the Romanian proved the more aggressive player, hitting a forehand winner up the line to get to set point before closing out the set with an ace.

Jankovic led 3-2 in the third set, but failed to convert on two break-point chances. At 4-4 in the third, it was Halep that pulled off the break, and serving at 5-4, she was two points from victory. However, Jankovic ran Halep from side to side before breaking back to pull even at 5-5.